Friday, May 29, 2020
Thursday, May 28, 2020
Monday, May 25, 2020
May 30th Combat Sports Bonanza: UFC on ESPN 9 - Woodley vs Burns UFC & F2W Predictions
UFC on ESPN 9: Woodley vs Burns Predictions:
Woodley vs Burns: It's easy to forget Woodley's dominance after that smashing he got from Usman. Different theories have been floated such as burnout from being champ or dividing his time between other opportunities and actually just training to remain champ. Burns however has only looked better since no longer cutting an insane amount of weight. Does Burns have the heat in his hands to face down the bazooka one punch one shot Woodley power? I don't see Burns taking Woodley down as Woodley fights diligently backing up to line you up for that one shot punch to wobble of KO you. Woodley will also fight as boring a fight as possible to minimize risk taking.
Woodley by split decision.
Ivanov vs Sakai - Ivanov debuted in the UFC with a 5 round fight with Cigano. If that doesn't tell you he's top tier HW then I don't know what to tell you. He used more of his takedowns and grappling in Bellator to batter lesser skilled fighters but as of his UFC career has spent more time in kickboxing battles. Would love to see him go back to that wheelhouse but we may just get him looking to win the majority of 3 rounds standing up in this one. Sakai is no walkover prospect (in the eyes of UFC fans who don't know him). His only loss is a split decision to Kongo. He's 3-0 in the UFC with 2 stoppages. That being said, Ivanov is a slick veteran who has fought all over the world after a hiatus due to being stabbed nearly to death by gangsters. Ivanov has wone the PFL and WSOF belt. He was runner up in the Bellator HW tournament. Ivanov picks this one via split decision in a close fight. His best path to winning is using his comparable grappling to drag Sakai to the mat and not test the striking acumen of Sakai that recently put away Tybura.
Cifers vs Dern - Dern will drag this one to the mat and win by armbar.
Chookagian vs Schevchenko - Chookagian by decision in a mirror of her losing title fight effort.
Tim Elliott vs someone - I'd really like to see Elliott get back on track as I've always been a fan of his style and wild man skillset. Elliott by submission.
Louis Smolka vs someone - Also a big fan of Smolka and his submission wins. Hopefully he resists the urge to scrap on the feet and gets it to the mat and slaps on a submission.
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F2Win - Gabi Garcia is gonna smash someone in NoGi. Dante Leon vs Dante Leon which should be a solid match. I was hoping to see Tama pass more in the Crelinsten match, but with less fear of heel hooks from Leon, we may see Tama play on top more. Leon is comfortable doing either as evidenced by his matches at Kasai with Canuto and at ADCC. I doubt Leon is afraid of Tama's leg locks/heel hooks specifically so I see this one being a more positional battle. Tama may try to impose 50/50 early against Leon to slow him down at the outset of the match and try his luck there. I think Leon takes this one by hammering at Tama's guard over the second half of the match with more dynamic side to side movement and rolling backtake attempts mixed in.
Sunday, May 24, 2020
Gripfighting for BJJ Playlist - Reality > Theory
Realized I should put together some longer sequences of gripfighting from matches of mine to show the sequence of what it looks like in real time with resets by the referee, the boundary, and the pace and flow of a match:
Created a playlist for the 4 Episodes of gripfighting basics for BJJ.
The topics in the playlist include:
Episode 1 - Basic gripfighting vs defensive posture
Episode 2.1 - Stripping the Lapel Grip
Episode 2.2 - Lapel Wrap Omoplata Counter to lapel grip
Episode 3 - Addressing the Fist Punch grip (knuckles down sleeve grip)
Episode 4 - Cross Collar Grip Counter
Episode 5 - Gripfighting in Competition
Frustratingly enough the individual episodes I've put together don't come up very well in searches for gripfighting on YouTube's algorhythm. What you'll get when you search "gripfighting for BJJ" is the usual suspects of Kesting, Keenan, and a smattering of other folks who having not seen them use any of the things they're showing in actual competition, nor their students, who knows if it works.
I had a wrestling coach whose mantra was always "the truth is what works," and as a result, if it's not replicable in a duress/competitve setting against competent opposition, I'm not interested.
The same ethos applies to these 14 part grip switching fluff leg lock series you see on Instagram. By the 4th transition on a leg entanglement anyone with even remotely competent skills will have escaped their knee to a likely safe position.
At any rate, the basics I show come from my background in Judo, but more importantly come from having competed in Brazilian JiuJitsu for the past 10 years. 2009 I began competing in BJJ in the Gi.
The concepts and grips below anticipate the gripping tendencies of opponents in JiuJitsu.
Even more crucially, there are no gripping restrictions or parameters (other than no fingers inside the sleeve or pant) AND your opponent in JiuJitsu can at any point in time decide to simply sit down. When you're watching Judo you are watching the product of a multitude of gripping and time limit restrictions on how long you can keep a particular grip without attacking (3 seconds at best, but basically almost immediately in the eyes of the ref).
Keep this in mind when watching Judo for BJJ and other theories espoused by folks on this topic.
Created a playlist for the 4 Episodes of gripfighting basics for BJJ.
The topics in the playlist include:
Episode 1 - Basic gripfighting vs defensive posture
Episode 2.1 - Stripping the Lapel Grip
Episode 2.2 - Lapel Wrap Omoplata Counter to lapel grip
Episode 3 - Addressing the Fist Punch grip (knuckles down sleeve grip)
Episode 4 - Cross Collar Grip Counter
Episode 5 - Gripfighting in Competition
Frustratingly enough the individual episodes I've put together don't come up very well in searches for gripfighting on YouTube's algorhythm. What you'll get when you search "gripfighting for BJJ" is the usual suspects of Kesting, Keenan, and a smattering of other folks who having not seen them use any of the things they're showing in actual competition, nor their students, who knows if it works.
I had a wrestling coach whose mantra was always "the truth is what works," and as a result, if it's not replicable in a duress/competitve setting against competent opposition, I'm not interested.
The same ethos applies to these 14 part grip switching fluff leg lock series you see on Instagram. By the 4th transition on a leg entanglement anyone with even remotely competent skills will have escaped their knee to a likely safe position.
At any rate, the basics I show come from my background in Judo, but more importantly come from having competed in Brazilian JiuJitsu for the past 10 years. 2009 I began competing in BJJ in the Gi.
The concepts and grips below anticipate the gripping tendencies of opponents in JiuJitsu.
Even more crucially, there are no gripping restrictions or parameters (other than no fingers inside the sleeve or pant) AND your opponent in JiuJitsu can at any point in time decide to simply sit down. When you're watching Judo you are watching the product of a multitude of gripping and time limit restrictions on how long you can keep a particular grip without attacking (3 seconds at best, but basically almost immediately in the eyes of the ref).
Keep this in mind when watching Judo for BJJ and other theories espoused by folks on this topic.
Tuesday, May 19, 2020
There are no secrets: Don't let them sell you a re-invented wheel
There is good technique. There is good understanding of fundamentals. The myth of the natural is not something that I'm even going to bother debunking. If you believe some people have some large innate advantage I'm not going to waste time convincing you otherwise. My short response is that natural advantage is an easy fall back to explain small differences multiplied over time for which you cannot account or an unwillingness to examine to what extent you actually prioritize your craft.
Moving on...on my Instagram I've been posting over the past few weeks old school primarily Japanese leg lock finishes from Shooto and even smaller tournaments (Lumax) that can be found on YouTube & UFC Fight Pass. I post them as proof that the same baseline leg locks we see in grappling and MMA aren't new. Nothing is new. Perhaps the structure of how it is taught, or the prevalence of venues which allow them has broaded/deepened, but the base principles of attacking the leg are not new. You could argue that new forms of lapel guard did not exist in competitive Jiu-Jitsu in much capacity until you saw some Lapel-oplata or were limited to ideas such as threading the lapel between the leg ala Bernardo Faria or Saggioro more recently, but by and large there has been some obviously discernible change in the form, function, and utility of lapel aided Jiu-Jitsu. I don't, or have yet, to see much in the old school leg locks that doesn't exactly mimic the "new age" or "contemporary" leg locking systems. The Danaher/Renzo "control the second leg" or "double trouble" and handfight to the finish is unseen in old MMA footage and Shooto but as back then it was MMA, as the main leg locking venue, you often saw the attack of the leg from giving up top position and diving on the sole leg. The core set of finishing leg entanglement positions is laregely unchanged or improved upon. The comprehension and systemitization by Cummings and Danaher (and to what extent who deserves credit is a matter of debate depending who you ask) are the true additions of merit. Their use in competition in a non-MMA setting also is a venue for a true deep dive into modifying and discarding theories regarding grip, breaking mechanics, transitions, and escapes.
All the Instagram fluff leg locks you see with 14 different grip switches never turn up in MMA or even in competitive grappling for a reason. They're not real and even if they were it would mean you were in such control of your opponent and anticipating their reactions that you would have been able to tap them 7 transitions previously anyway. If anything, the access to information thanks to the internet has led to some improvements in awareness and defense but this is still laregly misunderstood because guys are basing their efficacy of defense on utilizing it against their training partners who themselves are sub par leg lockers. I don't care about what works in your gym against your students. I don't care about your whatever system that works at local tournaments in an area with no serious competitors showing up.
The most valuable insight I got from Eddie Cummings was "the biggest threat to your JiuJitsu is not what doesn't work, but what seems to work, or works against sub-optimal opposition." I'm paraphrasing but that always stuck with me.
The biggest threat to your JiuJitsu is spending time on positions which cannot be reliably forced/achieved against knowledgable opposition. Sure, the palm to palm grip counter foot lock from double trouble works, but knowledgeable guys don't get tapped by it or don't even let their foot be placed there. Sure the calf-slicer is a submission, but the opponent has to not be paying attention or react incorrectly to the position/hips relative to the lock to get tapped. Et cetera.
When you start competing, even at the Advanced/Expert/whatever level, you start to realize how many of your opponents either panic tap, or get tapped due to a lack of competent defense. You didn't overwhelm knowledgable opposition, you had an iron age weapon vs a bronze or stone age weapon. This is only exacerbated by a black belt with a school who's crafting programs based on beating their own students who already often have some deeply subsconscious pedestal effect they put onto their coach even while rolling or while they inadvertently find themselves in a dominant/advantageous position.
In the Gi, the transitions are different, especially without reaping across the hip. The grips of a top position player to pass and backstep are also more formidable. Being a competent NoGi leg locker is not the same as tapping a competitive adult black belt with positional awareness. My point in all this is that the real secret is in training methodology and positional training to develop nuanced understanding of the reactions and transitions of knowledgable opposition. Crafting theory in the training room is ONLY the beginning of developing and hammering out a truly matrix level understanding of a position. A guy like Lucas Leite comes to mind. He has competed absolute, Gi, NoGI, and for years on end continually modified and refined his outside/Coyoto half-guard position. Sean Spangler, a previous coach of mine knew more about head/arm choke/front head lock variations than anyone I've yet to encounter in person or online. This has been a long term project of his for well over a decade.
This indefatiguable pursuit of experties is the true mark of what I define as a "professional" and also the basis upon which I discard standard explanations of "heart" and "luck" or "natural" or "secret" explanations and above all the "reinventing the wheel" phase we seem to be in to varying degrees in JiuJitsu.
A primary motivation of mine for teaching is the efficacy of systems. You can discredit the takedowns I teach based on my background in Judo and MMA as not working for JiuJitsu, but if folks with no combat sports background can repeatedly score with components of the takedown curriculum I teach and implement, then it's a different conversation.
Moving on...on my Instagram I've been posting over the past few weeks old school primarily Japanese leg lock finishes from Shooto and even smaller tournaments (Lumax) that can be found on YouTube & UFC Fight Pass. I post them as proof that the same baseline leg locks we see in grappling and MMA aren't new. Nothing is new. Perhaps the structure of how it is taught, or the prevalence of venues which allow them has broaded/deepened, but the base principles of attacking the leg are not new. You could argue that new forms of lapel guard did not exist in competitive Jiu-Jitsu in much capacity until you saw some Lapel-oplata or were limited to ideas such as threading the lapel between the leg ala Bernardo Faria or Saggioro more recently, but by and large there has been some obviously discernible change in the form, function, and utility of lapel aided Jiu-Jitsu. I don't, or have yet, to see much in the old school leg locks that doesn't exactly mimic the "new age" or "contemporary" leg locking systems. The Danaher/Renzo "control the second leg" or "double trouble" and handfight to the finish is unseen in old MMA footage and Shooto but as back then it was MMA, as the main leg locking venue, you often saw the attack of the leg from giving up top position and diving on the sole leg. The core set of finishing leg entanglement positions is laregely unchanged or improved upon. The comprehension and systemitization by Cummings and Danaher (and to what extent who deserves credit is a matter of debate depending who you ask) are the true additions of merit. Their use in competition in a non-MMA setting also is a venue for a true deep dive into modifying and discarding theories regarding grip, breaking mechanics, transitions, and escapes.
All the Instagram fluff leg locks you see with 14 different grip switches never turn up in MMA or even in competitive grappling for a reason. They're not real and even if they were it would mean you were in such control of your opponent and anticipating their reactions that you would have been able to tap them 7 transitions previously anyway. If anything, the access to information thanks to the internet has led to some improvements in awareness and defense but this is still laregly misunderstood because guys are basing their efficacy of defense on utilizing it against their training partners who themselves are sub par leg lockers. I don't care about what works in your gym against your students. I don't care about your whatever system that works at local tournaments in an area with no serious competitors showing up.
The most valuable insight I got from Eddie Cummings was "the biggest threat to your JiuJitsu is not what doesn't work, but what seems to work, or works against sub-optimal opposition." I'm paraphrasing but that always stuck with me.
The biggest threat to your JiuJitsu is spending time on positions which cannot be reliably forced/achieved against knowledgable opposition. Sure, the palm to palm grip counter foot lock from double trouble works, but knowledgeable guys don't get tapped by it or don't even let their foot be placed there. Sure the calf-slicer is a submission, but the opponent has to not be paying attention or react incorrectly to the position/hips relative to the lock to get tapped. Et cetera.
When you start competing, even at the Advanced/Expert/whatever level, you start to realize how many of your opponents either panic tap, or get tapped due to a lack of competent defense. You didn't overwhelm knowledgable opposition, you had an iron age weapon vs a bronze or stone age weapon. This is only exacerbated by a black belt with a school who's crafting programs based on beating their own students who already often have some deeply subsconscious pedestal effect they put onto their coach even while rolling or while they inadvertently find themselves in a dominant/advantageous position.
In the Gi, the transitions are different, especially without reaping across the hip. The grips of a top position player to pass and backstep are also more formidable. Being a competent NoGi leg locker is not the same as tapping a competitive adult black belt with positional awareness. My point in all this is that the real secret is in training methodology and positional training to develop nuanced understanding of the reactions and transitions of knowledgable opposition. Crafting theory in the training room is ONLY the beginning of developing and hammering out a truly matrix level understanding of a position. A guy like Lucas Leite comes to mind. He has competed absolute, Gi, NoGI, and for years on end continually modified and refined his outside/Coyoto half-guard position. Sean Spangler, a previous coach of mine knew more about head/arm choke/front head lock variations than anyone I've yet to encounter in person or online. This has been a long term project of his for well over a decade.
This indefatiguable pursuit of experties is the true mark of what I define as a "professional" and also the basis upon which I discard standard explanations of "heart" and "luck" or "natural" or "secret" explanations and above all the "reinventing the wheel" phase we seem to be in to varying degrees in JiuJitsu.
A primary motivation of mine for teaching is the efficacy of systems. You can discredit the takedowns I teach based on my background in Judo and MMA as not working for JiuJitsu, but if folks with no combat sports background can repeatedly score with components of the takedown curriculum I teach and implement, then it's a different conversation.
Monday, May 18, 2020
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